A JURY took just half-an-hour today to clear a man of raping a middle-aged mother in her County Durham home.

Keith Robertson was unanimously acquitted at the end of a three-day trial he has faced at Teesside Crown Court this week.

Mr Robertson - who is known as Jake - was alleged to have attacked the woman in the early hours of May 1 last year.

He insisted no sexual intercourse took place in her house, and was stunned when the allegation was made against him.

Mr Robertson, 51, had been drinking with the woman at her home, and he told they jury that they began to kiss.

He accepted giving her love-bites on her neck, and claimed the pair touched one another before his accuser cried rape.

They were making plans to see one another again, he maintained, when for no apparent reason she asked him to leave.

Mr Robertson told the jury that they had been kissing when out of the blue the woman said: "You've just totally raped me."

He admitted being asked to leave the house, but told the jury of seven women and five men he did not know why.

Some time later, he called the police to say he was being accused of rape but insisted he had not had sex with the woman.

He told the 999 operator that the woman's son was outside of his house in Thomas Street, Shildon, with a baseball bat.

During the trial, Mr Robertson reiterated his denials from the witness box, and said he had not forced himself upon the woman.

"Nothing happened," he told the court. "I didn't know what to think . . . I could not believe it . . . I was shocked."

He told the jury that they had spent the evening drinking at her home and appeared to be getting on "famously".

They kissed and he gave her love-bites on her neck before they began touching one another, he said in his evidence.

The woman, who is in her 40s, claimed she was then pinned to the floor in her living room and raped by Mr Robertson.

He told the jury that she made the accusation after they touched, but soon confessed: "I think I've taken it the wrong way."

The jury heard that Mr Robertson drank ten bottles of beer while the woman downed at least four litres of strong cider.

On a scale of one to ten of drunkenness, Mr Robertson placed her at a nine when questioned by police about the allegation.

In his evidence to the court, he said he was content that she knew what she was doing when they kissed.